


What Lies Beneath

by thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey



Category: Original Work
Genre: ADHD, Angst, Blood, Broken Bones, Death, Flashbacks, Fluff, Gen, Guns, High School, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Intermittent Explosive Disorder, Kind of happy ending, Kleptomania, Knives, Murder, PTSD, School, Sociopaths, Stabbing, bullet wounds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-11-04 15:42:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17900897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey/pseuds/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey
Summary: Boarding school for criminal children? Michael hadn’t heard of it until he was going there. He’s not innocent- he knows that- and at least it’s better than jail. At least until murders begin. My first attempt at mystery, so please be nice. Work updates on Wednesdays.Chapter titles are from Mr. Glass Man by Scotty Sire. I do not own the song.





	1. Lets Paint a Picture Here in Class

Luis glanced up as a police car drove through massive, barbed-wire-topped gates. “Katie, what did you do now?”

The tall, willowy blonde shrugged. “Don’t ask me. They changed the security since I last escaped.”

“Oh, no. It wasn’t an escape, Katie, remember? It was an “unpermitted off-campus excursion.””

Katie snorted. “Call it what it is. An escape from this loony bin.”

Marcello nudged her. “If it’s a loony bin, does that make me a loon, Katie?”

“Everyone except you and I, Marcello,” Katie promised.

Luis gasped indignantly. “What about _me_?!”

“Everyone except Marcello and I,” Katie repeated. She nudged Luis. “Hey, look, some kid is getting out! No, don’t  _stare_ , just kind of glance!”

Luis turned his attention back to Katie. “Why?”

“Because we can’t act like he’s the most exciting thing that’s happened in a month!”

“But he _is_ the most exciting thing that’s happened in a month!”

“Yes, but we can’t _show_ him that, he might get a big head.” Katie gave him another glance. “Wonder what he’s in for.”

Marcello sighed. “He might not be ‘in’ for anything. It’s not prison, Katie, it’s school.”

Katie snorted. “Marcello, this is a reform school- sorry, ‘juvenile correctional institution’.

 If we’re not ‘in’ for anything, then we’re in the wrong spot. It might as well be prison, what with lockdown and the barbed wire. So, anyway, I wonder what he’s in for.”

“Murder,” Luis guessed, “He looks like a murder kind of guy.”

“I’m thinking he’s just another ‘troubled kid,’ Katie argued, “Look at him, he looks like he’s never had a proper haircut in his life. Bet he’s just a general delinquent. Foster care decided to kick him to the curb and send him here.”

Marcello crossed his arms. “Maybe he’s not either. Maybe he just has family that teaches here, and he got a place here.”

Luis laughed sardonically. “Marcello, no one comes here, they go to public school, which, although it is a hellhole, isn’t as bad as this. The only one who’s here with no criminal record is Kamili, and she’s practically not even a student. This is basically just her house that she’s renting to us peasants.”

“I think Marcello is right. Look, Miss Catherine is coming out. She _never_ greets new arrivals. Must be family or something.”

Miss Catherine guided the dark-haired teen and the police officer inside. One of the teen’s sleeves slipped up, and Luis caught sight of a silvery glint before he disappeared indoors.

“Holy crow! Did he have _handcuffs_ on?”

Katie shrugged uneasily. “Could’ve been a bracelet. Doesn’t have to be handcuffs.”

“Those were handcuffs!” Luis insisted, “Holy cow. I didn’t have handcuffs when they dragged me here. Did you guys have handcuffs?”

Katie shook her head. “When I was arrested, sure. But they took ‘em off when they drove me out here.”

Luis shook his head. “Wow. I haven’t seen anyone with handcuffs since- you, right, Marcello?”

Marcello nodded. “Not since me. How much worse can you get than fraud?”

Katie shrugged. “The real question is how much lower do you have to go before they take them _off_.”

“Murder,” Luis whispered creepily, “He killed a man.”

Katie smacked him on the arm. “Stop it! Murderers don’t go to reform school; they go to prison!”

Luis shrugged. “Normally people who commit _fraud_ go to prison, and yet Marcello sits in our classes.”

“That- That is because his dad is rich. I don’t know. I feel like pulling fraud on your own dad’s company would be less of an offense than- y’know- _murder_. I feel like that’s a harder one to pardon.”

“Attempted murder, then. He attempted to kill his very rich father who then stated ‘nah, it’s cool, send the kid to hell- I mean a ‘juvenile correctional institution’, and that was the end of it. I mean, even if you try to murder them, your parents will still care for you, right? Not want to send you to prison where all of the big bads that will actually destroy you are?”

Katie lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “Depends on the parents. I suppose some might be more like ‘oh, finally, a reason to ship this kid off to prison.’”

Marcello shuddered. “Can we please stop talking about this?” he pleaded, “We’ll find out eventually. Just… stop.”

Luis shrugged. “Sure. Whatever you say.” It didn’t take him long to forget their new classmate.

Xxx

Luis’s Pre-Cal teacher, Miss Lorena, rapped on a student’s desk, gaining everyone’s attention. “You’re new. Stand up, give us your name and something about you. Favorite color or something.”

The teenager from before looked up, startled. He stood up, arms crossed. “My name is Michael Warden,” he announced, “I’m not here to make friends or get to know any of you because I’m breaking out of here and leaving as soon as I can, because I’m not going to be locked up in another form of prison for the rest of my life. And my favorite color is red,” he added as an afterthought before sitting back down.

Miss Lorena blinked for a moment. “Alright, then. But Michael, this is _not_ a prison.” she turned at Luis’s snort. “Find something amusing, Mr. Hernandez?”

“No ma’am, have got a bit of a stuffy nose,” Luis answered smoothly, “Sorry for the interruption.”

“Mm. Well. Onto converting degrees into radians…”

Class passed about as well as normal, which meant that Luis understood nothing and planned to ask Marcello about it later. It made so much more sense when his friend explained it. But there was a bit of blockage in the hallways, one of the bigger students, in for minor problems, really just a general delinquent, facing Michael down contemptuously.

“What are you busted for?”

“That’s none of your business,” Michael said quietly, attempting to push past him.

The other student pushed him back. “I’ve _made_ it my business.”

Michael gave him a long, quietly intense look. “Move out of my way.”

The other student- Blake, Luis remembered- pushed him again, this time harder and into a wall. “What are you gonna do if I don’t?”

Michael gave him another intense look. “You don’t want to know. Move.”

“Michael!”

Everyone’s heads whipped around as Miss Catherine came striding down the hallway. They parted quietly for her, and Michael walked towards her with evident relief written on his face.

“Can’t get through without teacher’s protection?” Blake taunted.

Miss Catherine gave him a long, searching look. “It’s not Michael that I’m protecting,” she told Blake firmly, and steered Michael away.

Luis shivered as the crowds dispersed. He’d wished for a little more excitement and mystery in his life. Now that it was entering, though, he wasn’t sure he liked it.

Xxx

“Talk to me, Michael,” Cat said as they strode towards his office, “What happened?”

Michael shrugged. “He just cornered me in the hall. New student hazing, I guess. You didn’t need to interfere. _That_ , I can handle.”

“ _Michael_.”

“Not in that way, Cat, I meant that I can handle it and not end up- yeah.”

“Okay. Good. But I actually _was_ looking for you, not just bailing you out. One of your teachers called. Miss Lorena. She said that you mentioned escaping and leaving. And that you called this school a prison.”

“It _is_ ,” Michael muttered.

“ _Michael_. You could be in _actual prison_ right now. Possibly for _life_. You can’t _say_ things like that, or the police will come again. They’ll come and take you away to actual prison, and I won’t be able to stop it.”

Michael sighed. “I know. I’m sorry, Cat.”

“Besides,” Cat said gently, “you actually _can’t_ leave.”

“I know.”

“And if you try… they _will_ take you away. You _can’t_ make a run for it.” Michael didn’t answer. “Michael, _promise_ me you won’t try to make a run for it.”

“I promise.”

Cat let out a deep breath. “Good. Okay. I think- you’ve got recreational time right now, right? Outside?”

Michael nodded. “Yeah.”

“Alright. Go outside. Get some exercise. Don’t get in trouble.”

Michael nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

He didn’t normally break promises.

But this time he might.

Xxx

Luis flopped down on the grass next to Marcello. “Marcello, save me from Pre-Cal.”

“What do you need help with now?”

“I need help breaking my right arm, but making it look like an accident. Then they can’t make me write.”

“They’ll make you write with your other arm,” Katie warned, “I faked spraining my wrist a while back. They just said ‘you’ve still got a good hand’.”

“Ah, crud,” Luis grumbled, “Well, scratch that idea. I’d be willing to break one arm, but two is a little much. Oh, the mystery student is Michael Warden, he’s definitely linked with Miss Catherine, and his crime is none of our business.”

Katie rolled her eyes towards heaven. “Luis, did you go up and _ask_ him? I swear, you have _no_ decorum.”

“I did _not_!” Luis protested, “Someone else did! Blake!”

“Oh, _that_ jerk,” Katie grumbled, “Don’t get me started on _him_.”

Luis lifted his head from the ground. “Why? What did he do?”

Katie’s lip curled. “He pinched me inappropriately. Twice.”

“She decked him in the face,” Marcello revealed gleefully, “She got detention for two days, though.”

“Worth it,” Katie said blissfully, “His nose was crooked for a week. Hasn’t been the same since.”

“Oh. Good. I don’t know, though. Something was… wrong. Miss Catherine acted like she was doing Blake a favor by taking Michael with her.”

The bell clanged, and Marcello stood up, stretching. “That was the dinner bell. You were late out. We need to get inside before lockdown starts.”

Luis nodded towards Michael, the only other person outside. “Should we tell him?”

Marcello shrugged. “You go ahead. I’ll save both of you a place in dinner line.”

He headed off one way, and Luis approached Michael, who was prowling the edge of the fence, as if trying to find the best place to climb over. Luis grabbed his shoulder.

“Hey—”

Michael whirled around, his eyes a flash of startled green, twisting Luis’s wrist and slamming his remaining fist into Luis’s elbow. Luis screamed as a shock ran up his arm, and he knew instinctively that his arm was broken. Tears started to leak out of the corners of her eyes.

Michael backed away, looking like he might apologize, but instead, he turned and fled. Luis sank down to his knees, his breath coming in short gasps and sobs, holding his arm to his chest, crying, crying, because it _hurt_ , and he might throw up and _arms shouldn’t bend that way_. And then he heard shouting, and he knew that someone would find him soon. He keeled over and passed out.


	2. The Teacher Writes the Notes Too Fast

Michael ran straight to his room, skipping out on the dinner hall entirely. He grabbed the small backpack he’d come with. He wouldn’t be allowed to stay, not after he’d broken another student’s arm. _But it was an accident_ , he told himself, _I didn’t **mean** to break his arm, he just startled me, and it was just a reflex._But he knew it wouldn’t matter. He’d messed up, and they would kick him to the curb. But he wasn’t going to go to jail. He _refused_. He could hide. They wouldn’t be able to find him. He could just disappear.

He ran through the halls, and then- oh- no- he ran right into Cat. Cat staggered back with a grunt. Michael went flying, lighter and smaller than his muscular friend. His backpack skittered to the ground, and he scrambled to recover it.

“Michael? Why aren’t you at dinner?”

“I’m leaving,” Michael said immediately, “I’m leaving, and I’m going to get away, and they won’t find me, because if I stay they’ll put me in jail, and I’m _not going to jail_!”

Cat blinked. “Whoa. Slow down, slow down. What happened?”

“Some-kid-grabbed-my-shoulder-and-I-broke-his-arm-and-it-was-an-accident-but-they-won’t-care-they’ll-just-throw-me-out-and-then-I’ll-go-to-jail-and-I-don’t- _want_ -to-go-to-jail!” Michael pushed out all at once.

Cat held up a hand. “Whoa. Calm down. Calm down. Are you talking about Luis Hernandez?”

“I don’t know his name, I just know that he startled me and I broke his arm.”

“Well, they found a boy, Luis Hernandez. They heard him scream, and they found him with his arm broken. Pretty badly broken, too. Needing surgery.”

“They’re gonna throw me in jail.”                                           

“No,” Cat said firmly, “What they’re going to do is ask how it happened, and if they rule it as an accident, they won’t punish you for it. You’re not going to jail, Michael. Not unless you run away. So why don’t we go back to your room and put your bag back, and then we’ll go see the principal. I’ll go with you. Sound good?”

Michael took a deep breath. “Okay. Sounds- sounds good.”

He followed Cat back towards his dorm room numbly, wondering if Cat would catch him if he burst out of a window. He resisted the urge, instead stashing his bag deep behind his uniforms where hopefully only he could find it.

He trotted silently after Cat as they walked through the hallways to the big imposing door that simply read

_Principal Aldrich Smith._

Michael gulped, but Cat was pushing him through the doors, and saying hello to a friendly, blonde man who Michael assumed was a secretary or something.

“I came about Hernandez,” Cat said tentatively.

“Oh. Well, the doctors tell me he’ll be fine. He’ll be in a cast for a few months, and they’ll have to do surgery to get his arm in place, but there shouldn’t be any lasting effects.”

The blood stopped pounding in Michael’s ears. He hadn’t done anything permanent. Not like- no. He wasn’t going to think about that. He would _never_ think about that, never again.

“Hey- so- Aldrich—” Michael realized with a sinking heart that this man was the principal- “you found out how it happened?”

The blonde man shook his head. “Not a clue. Hernandez was out of it, and no one saw anything. He was in a blind spot, and we haven’t had time to review other footage, but we’re thinking that it was hostile intent from another student- mostly because they were out of the camera sight.”

“What if it was an accident?”

Aldrich raised an eyebrow. “Chances are slim. Why? Do you know anything? Or does the student behind you know anything?”

“It was me,” Michael pushed out, stepping forward. “I broke his arm. He grabbed my shoulder and I- I panicked and broke his arm. It was an accident.”

Aldrich looked at him. “Michael, right? Warden? Just got here yesterday?”

Michael nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

“Causing trouble already, are we?” Aldrich didn’t see Michael’s flush; he was too busy typing something on his computer. His mouth formed the words “intermittent explosive disorder” and Michael’s whole face started to turn scarlet. From embarrassment, he told Cat with his eyes, not anger.

“An accident?”

Michael nodded. “Yes sir. I- It wasn’t intentional. I mean- obviously I meant to break his arm, but it I’d known what was going on- I just- it was really fast, and I didn’t think.”

“Hm. Well. I’ll expect an apology to Hernandez whenever the hospital releases him.”

“Yes sir.”

“And…” Aldrich looked up at Cat. “What’s a proper punishment for minor accidental crimes?”

Cat considered for a moment. “I believe that Talia wanted some help with the dogs.”

Aldrich’s eyes twinkled. “Alright. Dog duty for- I don’t know, a week? Better make it two.”

Michael blinked. “Dog…duty?”

Aldrich waved a hand. “Cat can tell you about it. Dismissed.”

Michael followed Cat out of the office, mind reeling. Crimes like that- they _always_ had worse punishments. Crimes _less_ than that had worse punishment. How bad was dog duty? Would it hurt? How come he wasn’t being thrown into jail?

“What’s dog duty?” he asked finally.

Cat grinned. “You’ll find out tomorrow. You’ll like it, I promise. It’s fun.”

“It’s… fun? But I thought…”

“What, punishment? Aldrich had to do _something_ , but he knows that it was an accident. He’s not going to assign you to something reserved for deliberate delinquents for a crime that was an accident.”

Michael let out a sigh of relief. “So- they’re not going to punish me worse?”

Cat shook her head. “Of course not! We can tell the difference between an accident and a crime!” She smiled at Michael. “Despite what you think, we are _not_ a prison.”

Xxx

Michael knocked tentatively on the door of a little building outside the main school building. Cat had told him that this was where he’d find the elusive “Talia” who he was assigned to, but the little building didn’t show up on the school maps.

A woman opened the door, startling in surprise. “Oh! A student! Um- Oh, you must be Michael.”

“That’s me.”

She smiled at him. “I’m Talia. Cat and Aldrich- sorry, Miss Catherine and Principal Smith- told me that you’d be coming. C’mon in.”

Michael glanced around nervously before following her inside. He didn’t like feeling closed in and trapped.

“So, basically, we’re trying to train some dogs to help us find students who go missing.”

“Does that happen often?”

“No, and most of the time they’re running, but we’re trying to keep the dogs a secret so they won’t go running through streams because it doesn’t work, and they’ll end up with hypothermia.”

Michael tilted his head curiously. “Running through streams doesn’t work?”

“No. Neither does zigzagging or doubling back or even putting pepper on yourself. Common myth, but dogs track you down by following a trail of dead skin cells, so none of those will help much.”

“Really? What _does_ work?”

“Oh, well, hydrogen peroxide and baking soda might do the trick, since they’re the main ingredients in scent killers. Or wearing someone else’s clothes, or- oh, nice try.”

Michael blinked innocently. “Huh?”

“I’m not going to tell you how to throw dogs off of your scent, I’m not actually _that_ stupid.”

“Oh- I wasn’t—”

“Yeah, sure.” Talia gave him a fondly amused glance. “I wasn’t born yesterday, kid.”

“Well- what am I doing? Why did they send me here?”

Talia led him to a door that led into a little yard. “Well. We want to train these dogs, but the problem is…”

She opened the door and about five balls of fur jumped at Michael, yipping happily and bouncing all over him.

“Puppies?”

Talia nodded. “They’re energetic, and they won’t listen to a thing I say.”

“How do _I_ fit in?”

“I want you to tire them out so they’ll be more compliant with me.”

“Huh?”

“I want you to play with them.”

“O-Okay?”

Talia laughed at Michael’s stricken expression. “This isn’t really a punishment. But if anyone asks, you are definitely being thoroughly punished. In the worst possible way. We have a reputation to hold up, after all.”

Michael knelt down next to one of the puppies, a German Shepherd. “Do they have names?”

“Yeah. One, Two, Three, Four and Five.”

“The don’t have… actual names?”

“No. They don’t need to.”

The German Shepherd rolled over, presenting Michael with its- _her_ \- belly. “Your name is Emilee,” he whispered to her, “No one can tell me otherwise.”

She yipped and nipped his hand, sinking her teeth into his pant leg and wrestling with it, growling. Talia smiled.

“I’ll leave you to it. If any of them get out of the pen, just make sure they don’t get too close to the fence. It’s electric, and while it won’t kill a human, it’s probably strong enough to kill a puppy.”

Michael felt a tingle go down his spine as he remembered looking for a secluded spot to climb over. “Electric?”

“That’s right. It’ll probably just knock you out. It’s just to keep you kids from trying to climb it. We had two broken legs and a broken arm, and then we decided that enough was enough and electrified it so that they just get knocked out instead of breaking bones. Anyway, just be careful.”

Talia gently pushed the puppies and Michael outside and shut the door. Michael knelt down on the ground, sitting back on his heels. Big mistake. The puppies jumped up on him, most of them small bloodhounds, but Emilee, at least up to his knee at standing height, leapt into his chest, knocking him over. The five puppies started crawling on him, licking his face.

Emilee sat on his face, obscuring his vision and obstructing his breathing. His chest got tight, even though he could breathe, he knew he could breathe- no, no, no! No. He had to calm down, he could breathe- no he couldn’t- he could- it wasn’t blocking him completely- yes it was, and he needed _air_!

“GET OFF!” he roared, swiping Emilee off of his face and pushing her into a wall, “STAY OFF OF ME!”

Emilee yelped, whining and cringing from him. The other puppies backed off, not understanding his words, but understanding the tone.

The door opened with a _bang_ , and Talia came rushing out. She had her phone out, and he knew she was reading his file, knew that she was looking at the words, cold and final, analytically putting a pin on what was wrong with him-

 _Intermittent Explosive Disorder_.

Three words to sum up why he could never make and keep friends, three words to sum up his whole reject life- _Intermittent Explosive Disorder_.

His hands were shaking, and red was dancing at the corners of his vision, when Talia turned off the phone, and, miracle of miracles, came directly to him instead of making sure that her puppies were fine first.

Just as suddenly as it had come, the rage disappeared, leaving behind the shaking hands and a scorching guilt.

“Um- are you okay?”

Talia sounded nervous, which made sense, if she’d just read his file, if she knew what he’d done- she’d been friendly, but that would disappear soon, was already disappearing.

“Uh- yeah.” He tried for being casual, but was left with the impression that he’d failed, based on how Talia’s eyes shifted away from him. “I just- um- I wasn’t expecting them to jump on me like that.”

Her eyes warmed, and the hard lines that had appeared on her face softened. “Oh, right. Sorry, I should’ve warned you, they like to jump. Just try to avoid getting down towards their level like that- bend down, but don’t crouch. Watch out for Emilee, though, she’ll take out the back of your knees. She’s too smart. Just- um- patience is key. You gonna be okay?”

He nodded. “Yes. Um- yeah. Just- yeah. We'll be fine. Yeah. Okay.”

Talia went back inside, and Michael, ignoring her advice, knelt next to Emilee, who flinched away from him. He held out a tentative hand.

“Hey,” he said softly, “I’m sorry. Let’s start over?”

She came forward tentatively and sniffed at his hand, then licked it. He stroked her head, and then got up. The other puppies came yipping at him, and he threw a tennis ball that was lying in the grass. It got back to him. Eventually. Mutilated beyond recognition. He picked one of the puppies up, and it squirmed, yelping frantically.

“Look at you. Are you going to become a big, bad tracker? Are you going to hunt me down when I get out of here? I don’t think so.”

“You realize that it can’t understand you, right?”

Michael whirled around and saw an African-American girl, her black hair tumbling in masses of curls down her back. She gave a little wave, her eyes flashing an eerie violet.

“Hello.”

Michael set down the dog, number three, he thought, and jogged to the edge of the pen. “What are you doing here?”

“Nice to meet you too. I’m Kamili.”

“Camille?”

She sighed. “No, Kamili. Kaa-MEE-lee. I’m a student.” She extended a hand over the fence. “Nice to meet you. For real.”

He took the hand. Her hand was warm, and her handshake was firm. “Michael. Um- if you don’t mind- how did you end up here?”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, apparently, I’m a delinquent. At least, that’s what my father said before he sent me here.” Michael wondered if he detected a note of bitterness, but she moved on fast. “And you? What did they throw _you_ in this madhouse for?”

“Oh- uh- didn’t have anywhere else to put me, I guess.”

Kamili made a face. “Ugh. Boy, do I know what _that_ ’s like. I’ve been shifted around to a bunch of different schools. Your parents don’t have time for you either?”

Michael’s jaw clenched. “My parents aren’t around,” he said stiffly.

Kamili’s jaw dropped. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean- I’m an insensitive idiot, complaining about my dad when yours- I- I’m sorry.” Her words were strange- as if she did mean them but at the same time didn’t feel the way she said.

“It’s fine. It’s fine.” Michael toed the ground. “It- it happened a long time ago, and- yeah. It’s okay. You didn’t know. Um- yeah. Miss Catherine- she got me in.”

“Miss Catherine? How do you two know each other?”

“You’re really nosy, you know that?”

“And _you’re_ dodging the question.”

“Oookay, I have dogs to take care of, so—” Emilee tugged on his pant leg and he fell on the ground next to her, surprised at the strength in her tiny body. She continued tugging, while he pushed at her snout.

“Wow, excellent exit,” Kamili remarked, leaning over the pen, “I can’t believe- are you okay?!”

“Mhm- off! Bad dog!”

“Do you need help?!”

“Nope- I’ve got this- _down_ , Emilee! Down!”

She yipped and let go, crawling onto his lap. She circled a few times and laid down.

“Oh, no.”

“You’re not moving anytime soon,” Kamili informed him. “Not if she falls asleep.” She hopped the fence, picking up the puppy. “Here, get off of him.”

Michael stood up, taking Emilee. “Bad dog. Um- Thanks. I guess.”

Kamili smiled at him. “No problem. I never asked- how come you’re back here with the dogs?”

“Because I like dogs, obviously. They make better conversational partners than most people.”

Kamili looked at him, one eyebrow raised. “You’re lying.”

“You’re nosy,” he repeated, “Why don’t you jump back over that fence and go inside?”

“Because talking to you is more interesting. You’re a very interesting person, you know. Are you being punished? Ooo, what for?”

“Um- I- uh- I accidentally broke another student’s arm?”

“You what? Oh, Luis Hernandez? I know him. Kind of. We talk. Talked. Once. It was good, though, he was nice.” She grinned brilliantly. “He’s even more nosy than I am. He’s better at it, too. He can get you talking _really_ fast, he’s just one of those guys that you open up to, you know? Maybe because he’s short? It’s probably because he’s open and friendly and just- energetic, I guess.”

“Maybe, but you talk a lot.”

Kamili smiled cryptically. “Maybe you’re just a guy that people open up to.”

Michael opened his mouth to respond, then abruptly shut it. Then one of the bloodhounds attacked Kamili’s leg, and she yelped, attempting to yank him off.

“Ow!”

Michael lunged for the dog, yanking him away from Kamili. “No!”

The dog struggled to get away from him, snarling at Kamili and biting Michael’s hands. Kamili hopped back over the fence, and Michael whacked the dog on the snout.

“Bad dog! Very bad dog!”

The puppy whined, then growled at Kamili, and Michael could’ve _sworn_ that the dog was glaring at her. Michael heaved a sigh of relief, setting the dog back down and making his way back to the fence.

“Are you okay?”

Kamili nodded, examining her leg, which was bleeding slightly. “I think it’s okay. I mean, dogs have strong jaws, but he’s still just a puppy.” She smiled at him. “Thanks for saving me. I didn’t know you were brave, too.”

Talia pushed the door open. “What in the actual stars is going on out here?! Oh! Kamili! What are you doing here?!”

“Just visiting,” she said innocently.

Talia gave Michael a nervous glance, and he flushed. He should be used to it, but it still hurt. “Oh. I heard- I heard shouting?”

“One of the dogs bit her,” Michael explained, “I was just…” he trailed off, gesturing vaguely towards the offending bloodhound.

“I see. I think that you can leave now. You and Kamili should get those bites checked out.”

Her tone left no room for argument, and Michael didn’t try. He left, face a bright scarlet. He knew that he was being kicked out. Kamili joined him a few minutes later, grabbing for his wrist.

“Hey, is your hand okay? I saw the dog trying to bite you.” Her hand closed around his arm, and he reflexively jerked away at the touch.  “Hey, I’m just trying to make sure that you’re okay!”

“Sorry. I- sorry. Um- I’m fine. He was mostly trying to bite you.”

She reached towards his hand again, even as he tried to tug it away. “You sure? It looked like he got you pretty good.”

He smacked her hand, hard. “I’m fine!”

She jerked away, blinking hard, and he stalked off, going back to his dorm room, where he slammed the door and threw himself at his bed. His anger abated, and he banged the back of his head on the wall repeatedly.

“Stupid. Idiot. Can’t. Control. Your temper.”

There as a knocking on his door, and he opened it to see a tall, dark-haired boy. “Are you hitting the wall?”

Michael glared at the intruder. “Maybe.”

“Just wanted to tell you, the walls are pretty thin. If you start hitting them, everyone can hear you.”

“Okay, thanks.” Michael started to close the door.

“Um- Nice to meet you?”

Michael closed the door, feigning deafness. He pulled his small bag out of his closet, taking stock of what he had. He had his uniforms, of course. He had his jacket, and a few pairs of jeans and a few T-shirts. And… he pulled out a little glass heart with flecks of red and blue inside and set it gently on the nightstand. That didn’t fit into his plan. They’d confiscated his pocket knife when he’d arrived, of course. Okay. So, not much. First, he had to get ahold of his knife, or any knife. Cat might know where they were keeping his knife, but would she tell him? Probably not.

The biggest problem with escape would be the dogs. Once they were trained, there wasn’t much he could do about them.

 _Bump them off_ , a nasty voice in the back of his head told him. He shook his head. They’d just get new dogs, and they’d probably figure out who had done it in a heartbeat and throw him in solitary or something.

A knocking on the wall started, and he glared at it. The knocking stopped, then started again, in the exact same pattern. Then again. Michael blinked. Was that… Morse code? The knocking continued.

 _Hello_.

Michael knocked once on the wall to let the person know that he’d heard.

_What did you do?_

Michael knocked back _What?_

 _To get put here_.

Michael didn’t deign that with an answer. There was silence and then,

 _Asking for a friend_.

 _No_.

There was blessed silence for a bit, then,

 _Name_.

Michael ignored his hallmate and pulled out his map of the school. He knew from his first night that guards roamed the hallways after hours, but they had to have a routine. Routines could be figured out and avoided. Windows were unlocked, and sills ran close to each other, close enough for the brave to jump. Or the incredibly stupid.

 _Little bit of both_ , he thought wryly, jumping as the dinner bell rang. He joined the throng of students, looking for Kamili. He should apologize. And explain about… yeah. She probably wouldn’t be so nice to him once she knew.

 _Intermittent Explosive Disorder._ The ultimate escape plan but also the ultimate shackle, excusing behavior but tying him down to expectation.

 _Intermittent Explosive Disorder_. The words were sour in his mouth, and he wanted to get them over with. Spit them out. He caught sight of Kamili and started towards her, but someone pulled him back.

“Hey, we get food separate from the girls.”

Michael glanced up and saw his next-door-neighbor. “Oh. Uh. Right. I just wanted to talk to someone.”

“Marcello.”

“Huh?”

“That’s my name. Marcello.”

“Oh. Michael.”

Marcello’s eyes glinted with amusement. “I know. I’ve heard.”

“Marcello!” Someone- Luis, Michael realized with a wrenching in his gut- called across the hall, “C’mon!”

Marcello shrugged, gave a little wave, and disappeared into the crowd, weaving towards his short friend. Michael felt his guts twist into a knot. Luis was out of the hospital. He would have to apologize.

He tracked Luis down in the dining hall. Luis didn’t look happy to see him, and neither did the tall blonde girl next to him. Marcello winced sympathetically.

“Um- Hi,” Michael said awkwardly.

“Hi.”

Michael took in a deep breath. “I- I wanted- I wanted to apologize. For breaking your arm. It- I didn’t really mean to- I mean- I did mean to, obviously, but I wouldn’t have done it if I’d actually thought about it and it- it was just reflexive, I’m sorry.”

“Man, if that’s what you do reflexively, I’d hate to see what you’d do to me on purpose.”

Michael looked up at a grinning Luis. “Oh. Um…”

Luis waved a hand. “Eh, it’s fine. Marcello and I were discussing how to break my arm anyway. Got me out of a pre-cal quiz.”

“Which you have to take today,” Marcello reminded him.

“Meh. Maybe.” Luis grinned at Michael again. “You think that you could break my other arm?”

Marcello stiffened. “No!”

Luis laughed. “Relax, I wouldn’t actually want to break my other arm. Probably.” He eyed his casted arm as if he was considering the pain versus the benefits.

“Being friends with you is like having a child,” Marcello grumbled.

“Yeah,” Luis agreed, “Hey- where are _you_ going?” He tugged on Michael’s sleeve. “Got a pressing social engagement? Are we not cool enough for you?”

“I’ve got someone else I need to apologize to.” Michael spotted Kamili across the dining hall and waved. After a moment’s hesitation, she waved back. Next to him, Luis sputtered.

“Wait- Okay- sorry- you know her? Is that how you got in?!”

“Huh? Oh, no, we just met.”

“You just- um- okay, do you know who that is?”

“Um- she’s a student here, right?”

“She’s a…” Luis gasped. “She is, my friend, the _queen_ of the school. She can get anywhere, with the possible exception of the boy’s dorms, and do anything. She’s got her choice of the whole school to be friends with, but she’s not close to anyone! Whooo, you just- you had no idea?”

“Um… no? Wait, why can she get anywhere?”

“She’s the daughter of the school’s owner,” Marcello informed him.

“Wait, but Principal Smith—”

“Doesn’t own the school,” Luis interrupted, “Kamili’s father does. Smith is just the principal. Yeah, she practically owns it.”

“Oh. She said you were nice.”

Luis choked. “She- Kamili said- she said I was nice?”

“I don’t like her,” the tall blonde proclaimed, thumping down her dinner tray next to them, her blue eyes flashing.

Luis grinned. “Now, now, Katie, just because you’re Aryan race and she’s bl—”

Katie whacked him upside the head as she sat down. “Stop it, you. I don’t trust her. Not a whit.”

“Why not?” Michael inquired, intrigued.

“She’s too… _good_. I don’t think that people are supposed to be that perfect. I don’t trust it. She has to have _something_ on her, and that means she’s hiding it from us, which means that it’s especially bad.”

Luis’ mischievous grin crept back onto his face. “Katie doesn’t think that anyone can be good just because _she’s_ a klepto,” he told Michael seriously.

He got another whack upside the head for his trouble. “Better a klepto than a vandal.”

Michael blinked. “What?”

Luis nudged Katie. “Katie here is in for minor theft. She can’t help herself. She likes to steal stuff. I’m in for speeding, minor vandalism and minor traffic violations.”

Michael frowned. “You don’t go to reform school for ‘minor traffic violations’.”

“You do if three cars light on fire,” Marcello said mildly.

“That’s not minor!”

Luis grinned. “It’s a fun story, I’ll have to tell you about it sometime. Anyway, Marcello is in for fraud.”

Michael raised one eyebrow. “Fraud.”

“He doesn’t like to talk about it, probably because he donated the money to a cancer research or something embarrassingly noble that will get him branded as a weakling. So, what are _you_ here for?”

“Um—” Michael’s mind raced for a suitable answer, but luckily, he didn’t have to find one. A distraction came in the form of another student pinching Katie as he passed. She immediately whirled around, lunging for him, but her legs got tangled in the bench, and she nearly lost balance, grabbing on the table to steady herself. The other student laughed, but his humor was abruptly cut off by a yelp of pain as Michael twisted his arm, holding it in a position that he could dislocate the shoulder if he chose and forced him to his knees.

“Apologize,” he said coldly.

“Ah! Let me go!”

“Apologize,” Michael repeated.

“Ow! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

“Promise you won’t do it again.”

“Ow! Geeze- I promise!”

Michael looked at Katie. “Adequate?”

She looked disdainfully at her tormenter. “I suppose. Do it again, and I’ll re-break your nose, since your memory span in recalling that appears to be faulty.”

Michael released him, and the student scrambled to his feet, giving Michael dark glances as he disappeared.

“I hate that guy,” Luis muttered.

“Blake is going to make your life miserable,” Marcello warned Michael.

Michael shrugged. “I’d like to see him try. I’m not gonna get in trouble, he is.”

The head of security, Mr. Sound, stormed across the dining hall, Blake behind him, smirking smugly. “Warden!”

“I’m in trouble.”

“You attacked another student?! Blake tells me—”

“Blake is a creepy perv,” Katie interjected, “You can’t trust him, _or_ his flunkies.”

“Stay out of this, it doesn’t concern you.”

“Actually, sir, it does. Michael—”

“Stay out of it,” Sound growled.

“But Blake assaulted Katie,” Luis protested, “Michael was defending her!”

“If Blake harasses Katie, then Katie can take it up with the head of discipline. That would be me.”

“I _have_! And _clearly_ , nothing has changed! I think that our head of discipline is incompetent! That would be you, right?”

Sound turned a deep scarlet, and Michael edged in-between the head of security and Katie. He couldn’t stop any glares coming Katie’s way, though. “Detention, Katie. Two weeks.”

“But—”

“No buts! And _you_!” he turned his glare on Michael. “You’re on thin ice already. Miss Catherine’s favoritism won’t protect you if you step out of line. Behave yourself, or you’re out of here.”

He turned and walked away. Michael’s vision tunneled on his retreating back. It would be _so_ easy to slam his smug head into the wall, or on the tables. Wouldn’t take any effort at all. He could just… poof. No more Sound.

“Michael?”

Michael snapped out of it, the anger fading into guilt as Kamili touched his shoulder. “Huh? Oh! Kamili! I just wanted to say sorry for what happened earlier and-I-didn’t-mean-to-hit-you-it-was-just-reflexive-and—”

She laughed, holding up a hand. “Whoa, slow down, it’s okay. Oh, hi, Luis.”

“Hi,” Luis squeaked.

She turned to the others. “You’re… Marcello, right? And Katie?”

Marcello nodded, holding out a hand. “Pleasure.”

Kamili took the offered hand and shook it. She held her hand out to Katie, who grudgingly shook it.

“Hello.”

Kamili turned back to Michael. “That was brave, standing up to Blake.”

“Oh- no- not really. I just kind of… did it. I didn’t think about it. It was impulsive. And… probably not a good idea.”

“Well. _I_ think it was brave.”

Marcello leaned back. “You acted nobly. Your life is going to be hell.”


End file.
